Revisiting the Beatles-Industrial Complex

By

Sheila McClear

Jul 28, 2009 3:00 pm ET

Paul McCartney has been busy lately — playing the first-ever (and sold-out) shows at the Met’s new Citi Field and doing a much-lauded appearance on Letterman. (The Beatles often played the Ed Sullivan Theater space as well as Shea Stadium, which Citi Field replaced.) John Lennon, despite being dead, has been busy as well — there’s a new exhibit called “John Lennon: the New York City Years” at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex.

Fifty years after the group’s inception, 29 years after the murder of Lennon, and amid Michael Jackson madness and Woodstock-anniversary nostalgia, the Beatles-Industrial complex is going strong.

Maybe the death of Jackson has something to do with this recent bump in Beatlemania — he owned half the catalog, a $47 million purchase now said to be worth hundreds of millions.

But the concerts and exhibits were in the works before Jackon’s death, because the Beatles machine never stops.

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